Tougher armor for soldiers proposed

Updated 10:00 pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Soldiers should be required to wear new ceramic body armor plates even though they add weight and may limit mobility, Army Secretary Francis Harvey said Wednesday.

Drawn into an issue being debated on the battlefield and Capitol Hill, Harvey did not hand down an order or impose new requirements for the front lines.

The pronouncement follows disclosure of an unreleased Pentagon study that found side armor could have saved dozens of U.S. lives in Iraq. It also reflects the military's struggle to answer criticism that soldiers are going out without the armor they need.

Soldiers at war have said the additional armor -- two side plates that each weigh 2 1/2 pounds -- will weigh them down and limit their fighting flexibility. These soldiers often carry as much as 70 pounds of equipment, including armor, weapons and water.

"That's going to add weight, of course," Harvey told Pentagon reporters at a news conference. "You've read where certain soldiers aren't happy about that. But we think it's in their best interest to do this."

Body armor has been a recurring flash point for military leaders -- first with reports that solders were buying their own protective gear and vehicle armor to better shield them from attacks in Iraq.

Army officials stressed that Harvey was offering his opinion. They said unit commanders in Iraq and elsewhere make the final decision on armor.

Harvey said an Army review of casualty reports showed that 5 percent of those killed in action died from gunshot wounds, and only one of those killed in the past three years was shot in the side. He provided no details.

"That's one too many," Harvey said. "We think it's prudent to do this because of the adaptive nature of the enemy. So we're going to do it. But there wasn't an overwhelming body of evidence to say that that should be the case."